Twitter Reacts to the Matt Lauer Sexual Misconduct Allegations, and That Lock Button

Varietyreleased a report on Wednesday that Today show anchor Matt Lauer has been accused by multiple colleagues of sexual misconduct in the workplace, which followed his firing from NBC News earlier in the day. Among the bombshell accusations, Lauer reportedly serially sexually harassed female colleagues, including an instance in which he “summoned a female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis,” later reprimanding the “visibly shaken” employee for “not engaging in a sexual act.”

Among the most disturbing details included in the Variety report was a feature of his office at 30 Rock, in which Lauer allegedly “had a button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up.” The Internet not only realized how outrageous such a gadget was for anyone in an office setting (let alone an alleged serial abuser) but also how “the button” is a symbol of the many people who likely enabled Lauer’s continuous behavior. Below are some of the strongest reactions on Twitter to the latest news: